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OF THE HISTORICAL SOCIETY OF DELAWARE. 
XXIII. 



MEMOIR 



NATHANIEL B. SMITHERS 



BY 

WILLIAM T. SMITHERS. 



Uead before the Historioal Society of Delaware, November 21, i8g8. 



THE HISTORICAL SOCIETY OF DELAWARE, 

WILMINGTON. 
1899. 




jl ] O .hrnj^mui^ 



PAPERS OF THE HISTORICAL SOCIETY OF DELAWARE. 

XXIII. 



MEMOIR 



NATHANIEL B. SMITHERS 



BY 

WILLIAM T. SMITHERS. 



ifead hefore the Historical Society of Delaware, November zi, i8g8. 



THE HISTORICAL SOCIETY OF DELAWARE, 

WILMINGTON. 
iSqg. 






Press of J. B. Lippincott Company, Philaoblphia. 

Th^ Soclely 

mi \^ 1314 



PREFACE. 



In the preparation of this memoir I have necessarily- 
been confined within a very narrow compass. While all 
about me lay a wealth of material, yet, from the very 
nature of my task, I have been obliged to use but a very 
small portion of it. I have, therefore, frequently found 
myself more embarrassed than if there had been a greater 
lack of it. The problem with me was what to use and 
what to reject. That I have chosen wisely, I do not pre- 
tend to say, but I have selected that which, in my judgment, 
seemed best suited to my purpose. I leave untouched a 
store of interesting anecdote, rich personal experience, and 
profitable instruction. I make little mention of the golden 
words that fell ever from his lips, many of which are treas- 
ured in my memory; nor of the sublime thoughts that 
came from his pen, much of which manuscript is in my 
possession. All this may find its place when, some day, 
the story of Nathaniel B. Smithers's life shall be more fully 

told. 

W. T. S. 

Dover, Delaware, August 17, 1898. 



MEMOIR 



NATHANIEL B. SMITHERS. 



Nathaniel Barratt Smithers was born in Dover, Dela- 
ware, October 8, 1818, in the house which is now the dwell- 
ing of Chancellor John R. Nicholson. His parents were 
Nathaniel Smithers and Susan Fisher Barratt. Of this 
marriage there were eight children born, all of whom died 
in infancy, except the subject of this memoir, and a younger 
brother, Edward F. Smithers, who became a prominent 
physician, and settled at Vienna, in Dorchester County, 
Maryland, where he died in 1862. His father, a gentleman 
of sterling integrity and dignified manners, held the offices 
of Prothonotary and Clerk of the Peace in Kent County. 
His grandfather, also named Nathaniel, was Register of 
Wills in Kent County. He was an influential and Christian 
gentleman, and, as one of the early Methodists, introduced 
Freeborn Garrettson. His paternal grandmother was Esther 
Beauchamp, whose brother, William Beauchamp, is distin- 
guished in the annals of Western Methodism. His an- 
cestors on his father's side, before the Revolution, came 
into the " Lower Counties on Delaware" from Kent County, 

S 



6 MEMOIR OF NATHANIEL B. SMITHERS. 

Maryland, into which colony they had emigrated from 
England. 

His mother was the daughter of Dr. Elijah Barratt, of 
Camden, Delaware. She was a most estimable woman, 
whose nobility of character, gentleness of disposition, and 
grace of mind, endeared her to all who knew her. Dr. 
Barratt, his maternal grandfather, was a polished and cour- 
teous gentleman, and was of high repute as a physician. 
He was the son of Philip Barratt, who resided near Freder- 
ica, and owned the tract of land on which Barratt's Chapel 
was built, and in testimony of whose liberality it was 
named. In this chapel was the first meeting of Coke and 
Asbury, from which impetus was given to the advancement 
of Methodism. Andrew Barratt, another son of Philip 
Barratt, was one of the judges of the State, and a member 
of the convention which ordained the Constitution of 1792. 

His maternal grandmother was Margaret, daughter of 
Edward Fisher and Susanna Bowman, and through her 
father lineally descended from John Fisher, who came from 
England with William Penn in 1682. He settled at Lewes, 
and his son Thomas married Margery Maud, daughter of 
Joshua Maud, of Yorkshire, England. They were of the 
persuasion of Friends, and many of their descendants still 
adhere to and exemplify its habits and principles. 

Nathaniel B. Smithers was early sent to school in Dover, 
and his first teacher was one Ezra Scovell. His advance- 
ment in his books was marked and rapid from the start. 
He was both studious and quick to learn. At an age when 
few children have mastered the primer, he was dealing with 
the higher branches of education, and was fully launched 



MEMOIR OF NATHANIEL B. SMITHERS. 7 

upon a life of systematic study, which he quietly and unob- 
trusively pursued to the end. At the age of five years we 
find him being instructed in Latin, and repeating passages 
from Virgil, when most children are prattling nursery 
rhymes. 

It was about this time that the first cloud floated across 
the pathway of his life, — the death of his mother. Young 
as he was, he felt the loss keenly, and to his dying day he 
remembered the gloom that pervaded that household, and 
the grief that filled his heart on that evening in March, 
1824, when death entered the home, and took away, in the 
thirtieth year of her age, his tender, devoted mother. In 
the course of time his father married again, the lady being 
Rachel E. Clayton, the daughter of Dr. James L. Clayton, 
to whom Nathaniel B. Smithers became very much attached, 
and who died at her home in Elkton, Maryland, only a few 
years prior to his own death. 

When he was about eleven years old he removed with 
his father to Bohemia Manor, in Cecil County, Maryland, 
and soon afterwards was placed in West Nottingham Acad- 
emy, then under the direction of Dr. James Magraw, an 
eminent Presbyterian minister. Here he made rapid prog- 
ress, and in the spring of 1834, being but little more than 
fifteen years old, he was matriculated at Lafayette College, 
Easton, Pennsylvania, which had just been founded, under 
the presidency of the Rev. George Junkin, a learned and 
distinguished Presbyterian minister. Here his progress was 
so great that it was not long before one of the faculty of 
that institution publicly declared that he was no longer able 
to teach the young student any more Latin. From this 



8 MEMOIR OF NATHANIEL B. SMITHERS. 

college he was graduated in 1836, at the age of seventeen 
years. School-life was now ended. Real life was begin- 
ning. He was standing at the threshold of something ear- 
nest and practical. He was obliged to make his own way 
in the world, and at once. In giving him an education his 
father had done all he was able to do for him. True, his 
father's house held out to him a cordial welcome, where he 
might rest a moment before entering upon a career, but such 
rest meant idleness, and that was out of the question ; be- 
sides, it held out to him none of the allurements of home. 
He was almost a stranger to life at the Manor. All the 
tender memories of his heart clustered round the old home 
in Dover, and that was long ago broken up. Of real home- 
life, its influence and sweet impression, his childhood had 
known but little. From the age of eleven years he had 
lived within the walls of some institution of learning. He 
had gained greatly on the one hand ; he had lost sorely on 
the other. I have heard him more than once speak with 
feeling on the subject. " I was absolutely robbed," he said, 
" of the fragrance of home. Home influence was sacrificed 
to school discipline ; the glow of the fireside to the light 
of the student's lamp ; heart training to mind training. It 
is a grave mistake." The summer of 1836, immediately 
following his graduation at Lafayette, we find him for a 
brief season at his father's house. 

THE LAWYER. 

He had now arrived at the point where he must choose 
a calling in life. During his college days he had thought 
the matter over seriously, and had gradually come up to 



MEMOIR OF NATHANIEL B. SMI THE RS. 9 

that epoch with the cherished design to enter the profession 
of the law. He had looked the field over, — surveyed it with 
that care and deliberation so characteristic of him. He 
fully realized how much depends upon a proper decision ; 
that abilities, however splendid they may be, bear but dwarfed 
and tasteless fruit when misdirected and misapplied. He 
saw all round him men obscure in a profession who might 
have been prominent elsewhere ; men unnoted in trade who 
might have adorned a profession. He could not afford to 
make that mistake, and to that end he reasoned calmly and 
earnestly with himself, but ever with the same result, — the 
law. Yet, in almost any calling to which his genius might 
have led him, he would have succeeded nobly. His fond- 
ness for letters would have won him fame as an author. 
His predilection for divine subjects and affairs, coupled with 
his matchless eloquence, would have made him powerful as 
a pulpit orator. His profound learning and his peculiar 
ability to impart knowledge would have brought him re- 
nown as a teacher. But any one of these would have been 
chosen with great personal sacrifice. He would not have 
found in them that scope which his abilities demanded, and 
which his own profession so amply afforded. That he chose 
wisely, his course has fully shown. Indeed, we can hardly 
think of Mr. Smithers outside the profession of the law. 

Having fully determined as to the course he should pur- 
sue, he now informed his father of his purpose. This deter- 
mination on the part of the youth gave the father no little 
concern. While he fully appreciated the ability and mental 
capacity of his son, yet, unless he were sure that the young 
man was adapted to the law, he was not willing that he 



10 MEMOIR OF NATHANIEL B. SMITHERS. 

should enter upon the study of it. After seriously deliber- 
ating upon the subject, he wrote a letter to the president 
of Lafayette College, asking his advice as to whether in his 
judgment the young man had the ability to make a lawyer. 
To that letter he received the following reply : 

" His talents appear to fit him for the profession you men- 
tion. He has quickness, ingenuity, taste, and vivacity. 
Acuteness, strength of conception, comprehensiveness of 
view, and accuracy of judgment he possesses as far as they 
are usually possessed by persons of his age and circum- 
stances, and from his conduct here he may be expected to 
cultivate diligently his natural parts, and avail himself of 
whatever opportunities of improvement lie within his reach." 

That determined the matter with the father, and soon 
afterwards Mr. Smithers entered the law school of Judge 
Reed, at Carlisle, Pennsylvania, By a rule of the court 
regulating the admission of attorneys, a student who was a 
college graduate was required to study only two years. 
Both on account of his age and because money was desir- 
able, Mr. Smithers spent one year in teaching a classical 
school at Snow Hill, Maryland, after which he resumed his 
professional studies. In 1840 he was duly admitted to the 
bar of Cumberland County, Pennsylvania, and in the spring 
of 1 841 was admitted to the bar of Kent County, Delaware. 

The Delaware bar, always celebrated for its learning, was 
exceptionally strong at this time. The magnetic Clayton 
was still at the zenith of his power, although he had in a 
great measure given up the practice of law for public life. 
Bayard, Frame, Bates, Hall, Gilpin, and others, all legal 
giants, were in the full vigor of their intellectual powers. 



MEMOIR OF NATHANIEL B. SMITHERS. II 

The people of Kent were wont to look upon the bar of 
their county with a feeling akin to reverence, — a sort of 
charmed circle, into which it was little less than sacrilege 
for the average man to seek to enter. Few kindly hands 
were held out to young practitioners in those days ; on the 
contrary, clients clung the more closely to their old and 
favorite counsel, and viewed with mild contempt the young 
attorneys who were struggling for recognition. But sur- 
rounded even by these conditions, and amid such a glitter- 
ing array of talent, Mr. Smithers was not slow in gaining 
recognition as a lawyer. He soon took the conspicuous 
place in the front rank of his profession to which his ability 
entitled him. But clients came slowly. Indeed, judged 
by the practitioner of to-day, in his feverish chase after 
business, his nervous struggle in the maelstrom of intense 
competition, Mr. Smithers did little to secure clients. He 
opened a plain, poorly-furnished office, and sat down with 
his books. No flaming " shingle" informed the public that 
a lawyer inside desired a share of its patronage ; nor in the 
whole course of his long practice did he ev-er own one. 
The little business that came to him in the first months of 
his practice, although fees were now very necessary to his 
comfort, came entirely unsolicited. He wrapped about him 
the garb of professional dignity, and neither the allurements 
of fortune nor the pinch of poverty could induce him to 
resort to the shirt-sleeves of trade. 

But he did not long remain a briefless lawyer. So wise 
a counsellor and powerful an advocate could not long re- 
main unrecognized. Such ser\'ice as he was able to render 
was invaluable, and must needs meet a constant demand. 



12 MEMOIR OF NATHANIEL B. SMITHERS. 

Business now began to pour in upon him. Clients came 
daily, and the profitable ones came to stay, until Mr. 
Smithers enjoyed one of the best practices at the Kent bar. 

The time had now arrived when his means were such 
that he could think seriously about matrimony. From 
early youth his fondest admiration had been bestowed upon 
his pretty, vivacious cousin, Mary Lizzie, daughter of his 
uncle Joseph, which admiration, as youth ripened into 
manhood, changed into love for the accomplished, intelli- 
gent, and charming woman. He proposed for her hand, 
and was accepted by her ; but the proposition did not meet 
with the unqualified favor of her father. Joseph Smithers 
was a strict and positive man, and his notion was that the 
young couple were too nearly related by blood to admit 
of a proper matrimonial alliance. His scruples, however, 
were finally overcome, and on the 22d day of March' 
1853, Nathaniel B. Smithers and Mary Elizabeth Smithers 
were married at Dover, by the Rev. H. E. Gilroy. Of this 
marriage four children were born, two of whom died in 
infancy. 

Soon after his marriage Mr. Smithers erected a large 
brick mansion in Dover, as a family residence, which, with 
its successive additions and improvements, is to-day one of 
the handsomest residences in the State, and is owned by 
George V. Massey, Esq. In this house he lived happily 
with his family for several years. Then there came another 
cloud to cast its shadow across his pathway, — the health of 
his wife began to fail. Consumption laid its pallid hand 
upon her, and she fell into a hopeless decline. Having 
now become a confirmed invalid, she grew tired of the large 



\ 



MEMOIR OF NATHANIEL B. SMITHERS. 1 3 

house. She could not look after it properly, and things in 
and about it were being sadly neglected. She prevailed 
upon Mr. Smithers to dispose of it. He did so, and pur- 
chased the house on State Street, into which they moved, 
and where he resided the rest of his days. On the 21st 
day of February, 1867, she died, leaving him with two 
little children. These were sad days for Mr. Smithers. In 
referring to his life at that time, he once said to me, " No 
one knows what I went through. Many a time I have tried 
a case in court all day and nursed my poor wife all night." 
On another occasion, when speaking of his Congressional 
hfe, he said, " I knew no peace of mind. My wife was rap- 
idly wasting away, and my place was by her side ; yet duty 
compelled me to stay at my post. I do not know how I 
ever bore up under the burden." 

Mr. Smithers was now the foremost man in his profession 
in the State. He possessed that quality of mind which 
attracts lawyers as well as clients. No great question 
seemed to be thoroughly settled in the minds of the legal 
fraternity until N. B. Smithers's opinion was obtained, and 
to that end he was constantly consulted by both bench and 
bar. The public had absolute confidence in him. It knew 
his opinion to be reliable, his advice sound, and his word 
as good as his bond. It knew, besides, that to employ him 
in a case was to have everything done for it that could be 
done, and clients who placed their interests in his hands 
never worried for fear they would be neglected or made to 
suffer. 

The preparation of a case was, with him, an all-absorbing 
task. He studied it until he became the master of it in all 



14 MEMOIR OF NATHANIEL B. SMITHERS. 

its details. He carefully weighed every point in his favor, 
and closely scrutinized every point against him. With 
patient deliberation and mental debate he properly adjusted 
the whole, and turned upon it the fierce light of his cold 
criticism. Thus equipped, he entered into the trial, — his 
case mastered in all its aspects, and robbed of all its sur- 
prises. On the eve of some very important case I have 
known him to walk the floor all night long, and I could 
usually tell at breakfast the result of his mental wrestling. 
He excelled in the statement of his case, and in his argu- 
ment before the court. In addressing juries he was clear 
and forceful. No one could misunderstand him ; no one 
fail to be impressed by his earnestness or resist the flow of 
his matchless eloquence, when the occasion called it forth. 
No one who ever observed him in the progress of a trial 
can ever wholly forget it. The intelligence of his coun- 
tenance, the quickness of his eye, the vivacity of his whole 
manner, made a lasting impression. Nor was any lawyer 
more successful in winning cases. That was partly because 
he never knowingly took an unjust one. Men soon learned 
that it was useless to approach Mr. Smithers with a case 
that was tainted with fraud. On one occasion a man, who, 
by taking advantage of the law, was enabled to defraud his 
creditors, came to Mr. Smithers and offered him a good fee 
to take the case. Looking the man squarely in the face for 
a moment, he said, " My friend, don't do that." 

" But the law is with me," said the man. 

" The law may be with you in this instance," said Mr. 
Smithers, "but every principle of honesty and right is 
against you." The man sought other counsel. 



MEMOIR OF NATHANIEL B. SMITHERS. 1 5 

In the course of time he began to reduce his practice, 
and to take only such cases as interested him, or which 
were forced upon him. He very rarely now appeared in 
court, confining himself almost wholly to his office prac- 
tice. His means, while not large, were ample for his 
purpose, and he turned clients away whenever he could 
do so. Had he looked closely after the dollar he could 
have been a wealthy man, but he cared nothing for money 
beyond a competency. His fees were invariably far too 
small, and in many instances never paid at all. It was 
frequently said of him that the only thing he did not 
know about his profession was how to charge. Had he 
desired national prominence as a lawyer he had but to 
assert himself to attain it. A few years ago, during the 
progress of a great trial which attracted the attention of 
the whole country and in which he was one of counsel, a 
New York newspaper, in commenting upon the case, asked 
the question why a man possessed of such great legal ability 
as Mr. Smithers should bury himself in a little Delaware 
town. There was but one answer, — he preferred to. 

He now turned his attention to literary pursuits, and in 
1879 published the first volume of his translation of Latin 
Hymns. He was an excellent Latin scholar and richly en- 
dowed with the poetic faculty, and the publication of this 
work brought forth the unstinted praise of scholars and 
college professors throughout the country, not a few of 
them assuring him that his translation of Dies Irae was the 
best ever made. While engaged in this work Bret Harte's 
poem, "The Heathen Chinee," appeared. The poem 
pleased Mr. Smithers, and he translated it into Latin. 



1 6 MEMOIR OF NATHANIEL B. SMITHS RS. 

When it was finished, he, in a waggish mood, sent it to 
the professor of Latin at a certain college, with a statement 
that it had been found amid some ancient ruins, and that 
evidently Bret Harte had simply translated it and was guilty 
of plagiarism. At the same time, a prominent member of 
the Kent bar was so impressed with the story that he wrote 
to the Nezv York Herald calling Bret Harte a plagiarist, 
and offering to furnish the proof of the charge. The de- 
lusion was complete, and the affair created quite a sensation. 
The wise men decided that the Latin translation was the 
original poem. After he had enjoyed the joke long enough 
he wrote to them, acknowledging the authorship of the 
translation, much to their astonishment and chagrin. The 
following is the translation, with its explanatory note, and 
Bret Harte's poem, exactly as they appeared in Mr. Smith- 
ers's manuscript : 



The following is from manuscript in Lib. Dubren, entitled " Frag, ex 
Operibus Icti Fabricii." 

FABRICIUS, SELENIO SUO S. 

Mihi videtur ad te scribere, non solum, pro saluti quod tibi esse censeo, 
gratias agere, sed etiam quosdam versiculos dare. Hoc est argumentum. 
Pompeii Nig. sub decessum ex Egypto, quidam barbarus, Calphurnio Pisone 
inductus, ad urbem venit et in domo Pisonis mansit. Ultima in parte Orientis 
natus est, in regione nobis incognita, nomine Sina. Vir, etsi incultus, tamen 
est vultus ingenui et, ut videtur, bonse indolis. Propria in lingua appellatur 
Loo Sin et quanquam frequenter visus, mihi nomine tantum notus est. 

Hesterno, mihi accidit Pisonem visere et apud ilium prandere. Piso, ut 
mos est, pignora proposuit et cum chartis pictis certatur. Me, Divse Fortunse 
cultorem esse infrequentem scis, sed Calphurnium aleae addictum. Barbarum 
esse ignorantum censemus. Quod cecidit, lege et ride. Vale. 



MEMOIR OF NATHANIEL B. SMITHERS. 1/ 

(In Monte Palatine. Postridie Kalendas Sextas. A. U. C, 720.) 
BARBARUS SINENSIS. 

Quod narrare volo — 

Et mi sermo simplex — 

Ut vafer latro 

Et doli artifex, 

Est princeps Barbarus Sinensis, 

Me teste — esto judex. 

Ei nomen, Loo Sin — 

Nee negandum, ei 

Quod pertinet, quin 

Patefactum mihi ; 

Sad mseste subiidens et blande, 

In vultu distat nomini. 

Sext. Calendis, quod fit 

Et permollis aether, 

Ex quo licitum sit 

Quod Loo Sin pariter ; 

Sed, ad nauseam, perlusit Pisonem 

Et me, sicuti trifur. 

Quod ludebamus quiddam — 

Tulit partem Loo Sin — * 

Erat euchre — Quanquam 

Inexpertus illin, 

Subridens, in banco sedebat, 

Ut solet ridere, Loo Sin. 

Sed me pudet, ut chartas 
Compositas clam ; 
Et videtur nefas, 
Ut Piso, manicam 
Anchoris et monis impleret, 
Et id, perpetrare falsam. 



1 8 MEMOIR OF NATHANIEL B. SMITHERS. 

Sed quas sortes luderet 

Is incultus Sinae, 

Et quas partes faceret, 

Mirum nobis esse; 

Turn demum, protulit anchoram 

Quam Piso dederat ad me. 



Intuebar Pisonem — 

Intuebatur in me — 

Et assiliens — " An rem?" 

Ex imo, inquit ille, 

" Nulli sumus labore Sinense" 

Et instanter invasit Sinae. 

Proximoque ludo 

Non introibam ; 

Sed, ut foliis, omnino 

Perstratam terram 

Chartis, a Loo Sin celatis 

In sortem, nunc primum notam. 

In utramque manicam 

Sunt biblia bissena — 

Quod est magnum quiddam — 

Atqui dico revera — 

Et in digitos, pares candelis, 

Quae ssepe candelis — est cera. 

Quod est cur enarro — 

Et mi sermo simplex — 

Ut vafer latro 

Et doli artifex, 

Est princeps Barbaras Sinensis, 

Mehercle, in nullo mendax. 



MEMOIR OF NATHANIEL B. SMITH ERS. 1 9 

PLAIN LANGUAGE FROM TRUTHFUL JAMES. 
BY BRET HARTE. 

Which I wish to remark, — 

And my language is plain, — 
That for ways that are dark 

And for tricks that are vain 
The heathen Chinee is peculiar, 

Which the same I would rise to explain. 

Ah Sin was his name ; 

And I shall not deny 
In regard to the same 

What that name might imply ; 
But his smile it was pensive and childlike 

As I frequent remarked to Bill Nye. 

It was August the third ; 

And quite soft was the skies ; 
Which it might be inferred 

That Ah Sin was likewise ; 
Yet he played it that day upon William 

And me in a way I despise. 

Which we had a small game, 

And Ah Sin took a hand ; 
It was Euchre. The same 

He did not understand ; 
But he smiled as he sat by the table, 

With the smile that was childlike and bland. 

Yet the cards they were stocked 

In a way that I grieve. 
And my feelings were shocked 

At the state of Nye's sleeve, 
Which was stuffed full of aces and bowers, 

And the same with intent to deceive. 



20 MEMOIR OF NATHANIEL B. SMI THE RS. 

But the hands that were played 

By that heathen Chinee, 
And the points that he made 

Were quite frightful to see, — 
Till at last he put down a right bower, 

Which the same Nye had dealt unto me. 

Then I looked up at Nye, 

And he gazed up at me ; 
And he rose with a sigh, 

And he said, " Can this be? 
We are ruined by Chinese cheap labor ?" 

And he went for the heathen Chinee. 

In the scene that ensued 

I did not take a hand, 
But the floor it was strewed 

Like the leaves on the strand 
With the cards that Ah Sin had been hiding. 

In the game " he did not understand." 

In his sleeves, which were long. 

He had twenty-four packs, — 
Which was coming it strong. 

Yet I state but the facts ; 
And we found on his nails which were taper. 

What is frequent in tapers, — that's wax. 

Which is why I remark. 

And my language is plain, 
That for ways that are dark, 

And for tricks that are vain. 
The heathen Chinee is peculiar. 

Which the same I am free to maintain. 

In early and middle life Mr. Smithers was a frequent vis- 
itor to Lafayette College, attending reunions, and making 
addresses to students. This college conferred the degree of 



MEMOIR OF NATHANIEL B. SMITHS RS. 21 

Doctor of Laws on him several years ago ; and subse- 
quently the same degree was conferred on him by Dickinson 
College. 

I might dwell longer upon his professional life, so full of 
interest, and so profitable in its lesson, but this simple 
memoir is designed only as a sketch. I leave the more 
perfect picture to the future biographer. Let us now pass 
to a brief consideration of his public life. 

POLITICAL LIFE. 

The ancestors of Mr. Smithers were Federalists and 
Whigs. He cast his lot with the latter, and in 1844, three 
years after his return to the State, and when he was but 
twenty-six years of age, he was offered the Whig nomina- 
tion for Congress, and declined it. In our frequent inter- 
course, I once asked him why the nomination was offered 
him at that time, and his reason for declining it. His reply 
was, "In 1844, in addition to the interest of a Presidential 
election, there was a close and exciting contest for the 
gubernatorial nomination. There were three gentlemen, 
whose names were prominently before the convention, and 
I was a warm friend of one of the defeated candidates. 
From prudential considerations, I presume, rather than from 
any merit of mine, friends of the nominee tendered me the 
nomination of Representative in Congress. I declined the 
offer because I had my living to make, and did not deem it 
wise to be diverted from my profession." 

In 1845 he was elected clerk of the House of Representa- 
tives of the State Assembly, and was re-elected to the same 
position in 1847. In 1848 he was chosen a delegate to the 



22 MEMOIR OF NATHANIEL B. SMITHERS. 

Whig National Convention, which met in Philadelphia, and, 
dissenting from his associates, voted for Scott and Fillmore. 
The State convention, which met the same year at Lewes, 
again tendered him the Congressional nomination, and he 
again declined the offer. 

These years mark a transition period in the life of 
Nathaniel B. Smithers. The moral elements of his charac- 
ter were rapidly developing and forcing him to take his 
place among the radical political reformers of his time 
The anti-slavery agitation had already divided the country 
into two great parties. The Democratic party was fairly 
the party of slavery. The Whig party was going to pieces 
because its leaders were halting between righteousness and 
expediency, — admitting the wrong, they were too anxious 
for political power to jeopardize it by advocating the right. 
The great temperance reform movement of that era was at 
its height, and on both these questions Mr. Smithers had 
decided opinions, and the courage to advocate them. He 
was an anti-slavery man, and a prohibitionist. 

Soon after the convention of 1848, a series of events 
occurred which placed him in a position apparently an- 
tagonistic to the party from which the tender of the Con- 
gressional nomination had twice come to him. At the 
session of the General Assembly of 1847 two measures 
were proposed, with both of which he was in entire accord. 
One, for the gradual abolition of slavery, which passed the 
House of Representatives, but was defeated in the Senate 
by the vote of the Speaker ; the other, providing for sub- 
mitting the question of granting licenses for the sale of in- 
toxicating liquors to the decision of the voters of the several 



MEMOIR OF NATHANIEL B. SMITH ERS. 23 

counties, and which would now be termed a local option 
law. This bill became a law, and at all elections held 
throughout the State the county of New Castle voted for 
no license ; the other two counties giving- adverse majorities. 
This act was assailed in the courts, and Mr. Smithers as- 
sisted in its defence, but the Court of Errors and Appeals 
decided that it was a delegation of legislative power, and 
therefore unconstitutional. With this decision Mr. Smithers 
did not then, nor did he ever, concur. But it was made, and, 
as a lawyer, he loyally submitted to it. 

At the next election, as usual, the Whig party was suc- 
cessful in electing a majority of the General Assembly. 
In utter abandonment of the cardinal principles of the 
Whig party, as Mr. Smithers had been taught them, its 
representatives not only determined not to further oppose 
these great questions, but so far retrograded from the 
action of the previous legislature as to enact a law which 
was, in effect, an invitation to the kidnapping of free 
negroes ; and to contemptuously refuse to legislate laws in 
restriction of the sale of intoxicating liquors. This was 
too much for Mr. Smithers. The Whig party was domi- 
nant in the State, and the responsibility was thrown upon 
it. It shirked the responsibility, and repudiated its ancient 
doctrine. Mr. Smithers looked upon its now wavering 
policy with sorrow and disgust, and, with the determination 
to be true to his teachings, withdrew from the Whig party. 

In conjunction with others, who were of like mind, a 
third party was organized, mainly drawn from the disgusted 
Whig element. Into this organization Mr. Smithers entered 
heartily. The first result was the defeat of the Whig party, 



24 MEMOIR OF NATHANIEL B. SMITHERS. 

which had been in control for twenty years. The third 
party was maintained unbroken for three successive cam- 
paigns ; meanwhile the Whig party of the nation was in 
a state of collapse, and upon its ruins arose the Know- 
Nothing organization. Into this association he declined 
to enter, as he deemed its methods incongruous with 
the proper ordering of American politics. He declared 
that no party could or ought to be permanent which 
would not bear the light of public observation, or the 
test of public discussion. 

In 1854 this third or independent party was successful 
in carrying the State, and as one of the results, a prohibi- 
tory law, which was drafted by Mr. Smithers, was enacted. 
As before, it was subjected to a legal contest, and, as before, 
Mr. Smithers took part with its defenders. The court, at 
the May term, 1856, in New Castle County, adjudged it to 
be constitutional and valid. This was the year of the 
Presidential election, and the Democratic party prevailed 
in the State and nation. Of course, the law was repealed, 
but its legality had been vindicated, and still more, a lesson 
had been taught that it was not always safe to discard 
cherished principles and ancient traditions. 

Great events were now hastening, which absorbed minor 
considerations. The struggle of i860 was impending. The 
crisis in the anti-slavery contest was rapidly approach- 
ing. Men of all parties, whether influenced by calm judg- 
ment or led by inflamed passions, were taking a decided 
stand. There was but one place for Mr. Smithers. He 
unhesitatingly cast his lot with the Republican party, and 
was sent as a delegate to the Chicago Convention. As 



MEMOIR OF NATHANIEL B. SMITHERS. 2$ 

chairman of the delegation, he cast the vote of Delaware 
first for Edward Bates, and afterwards for Lincoln, and 
was placed on the National Committee. As a member of 
that committee, he promised that there would be five hun- 
dred Republicans in Delaware at the ensuing election. 
After an open and unflinching canvass, this promise was 
redeemed by a vote of fifteen hundred, and it was particu- 
larly gratifying to him that relatively the largest gain was 
in Kent and Sussex Counties, because in 1856 almost all 
of the very small Republican vote was cast in New Castle 
County. Fidelity to principle had lost nothing in its 
appeal to the people. 

At this election George P. Fisher, who had received the 
united support of the Bell and Lincoln votes, was elected 
as Representative to the national Congress. Soon after 
this campaign the supporters of Mr. Bell coalesced with 
the Republicans, and in 1862 William Cannon was elected 
governor. He had been a stanch Democrat, but in the 
perilous crisis through which the nation was passing had 
parted from his former associates. He offered Mr. Smithers 
the appointment of Secretary of State, and at his earnest 
solicitation, and with the assurance that the administration 
should be in perfect accord with the national government, 
he accepted the tender. Governor Cannon was true to his 
pledge. Although the Republicans had elected their gov- 
ernor, the Democrats had elected William Temple as Rep- 
resentative in Congress. He died before taking his seat. 
A special election became necessary, and in November, 
1863, Mr. Smithers was elected to fill the vacancy caused 



26 MEMOIR OF NATHANIEL B. SMITHERS. 

by the death of Mr. Temple, and in December took his 
seat as a member of the Thirty-eighth Congress. 

In personal appearance he was at this time very striking. 
He was about five feet seven inches high and of rather 
slender build. His features were all good, — dark, deep-set, 
penetrating eyes, indicative of great kindness, great spirit, 
and great quickness of apprehension; an unusually high 
forehead ; a mouth firm and expressive, upon the upper lip 
of which he wore a well-trimmed moustache. His step was 
slow, and his whole bearing dignified and reserved, giving 
to strangers the impression that he was cold and difficult of 
approach. But such was not the case. He was ever ready 
to receive with kindness all who came to him, — to give them 
a word of counsel, to listen to their troubles, and to render 
them pecuniary aid. Indeed, his kindness and generosity 
often caused him to be imposed upon. 

He was now in the full strength of his physical and men- 
tal powers, and in the most trying time in the history of the 
nation, when it appeared as if Providence, in caring for the 
Union, had concentrated all the intellectual power and 
patriotic enthusiasm of the people in its legislative assem- 
bly, Mr. Smithers was apparently easily the equal of the 
best in the most notable of American Congresses, He was 
a member of the Committee on Elections and of the Special 
Committee on Reconstruction of the Union. These com- 
mittees were very important ones, and exceptionally strongly 
constituted. In this latter committee he won a signal vic- 
tory. The States of Louisiana and Arkansas sent delegates 
to Congress. It was well known that in very high quarters, 
for political considerations, there was a desire that they 



MEMOIR OF NATHANIEL B. SMITH ERS. 2y 

should be admitted, and a majority of the committee reported 
in favor of seating them. Mr. Smithers opposed it, and suc- 
ceeded in defeating them. 

During this session of Congress the question of the rela- 
tion of the seceded States to the national government was 
discussed, and Mr. Smithers was largely instrumental in 
directing the decision of the question. He held that while 
it was possible for the people of those States to dissolve and 
change their State government, they could not alter their 
relation to the nation. Its sovereignty over them was un- 
interrupted and unimpaired. A bill embodying this idea 
passed both Houses of Congress, but the President quietly 
pocketed it. This created bad feeling with a ie-w of its advo- 
cates, and Messrs. Wade and Davis joined in a paper con- 
taining a somewhat acrimonious arraignment of the Presi- 
dent. They submitted the paper to Mr. Smithers, but he 
refused to have anything to do with it. 

On one occasion he had the good fortune to carry out 
the views of the administration in a matter which it deemed 
of vital consequence. The War Department, under Secre- 
tary Stanton, appealed to Congress for aid in securing 
recruits for the army. The provision of the conscription 
law allowing drafted men to pay a money consideration in 
lieu of military service was preventing the proper strength- 
ening of the army. Several bills were proposed by the 
Military Committee of the House, but were rejected as 
impracticable. Walking towards the Capitol one day, in 
conversation with Judge Beaman, of Michigan, Mr. Smithers 
expressed his opinion as to why the several bills had failed, 
and ventured to say that he believed he could draft some- 



28 MEMOIR OF NATHANIEL B. SMI THE RS. 

thing which would be acceptable. When he reached his 
seat he hurriedly made his draft, and as the matter was 
pending offered it as an amendment. It was defeated at 
this time by a few votes, but the next day it passed. The 
dispatch with which it was drawn rendered it necessarily 
imperfect in its details, but the object was accomplished. 
After being put into shape, it became a law. The relief was 
immediate and effective, and Mr. Smithers was personally 
congratulated and warmly thanked by Secretary Stanton 
for his timely and efficient help. 

In 1864 the national convention of the Republican party 
was held in Baltimore, and Mr. Smithers was chairman of the 
delegation from Delaware. Of course, his vote was cast for 
Lincoln, but for second place he voted for Daniel L. Dickin- 
son. He was not willing to trust the possible fate of the 
nation in the hands of a man of such antecedents as Andrew 
Johnson. He knew too well the influence of educational 
prejudice to be deceived by the glamour of Southern loyalty 
at that time. But Johnson was nominated, and his subse- 
quent career was a matter of no surprise to Mr. Smithers. 

At the State convention held this year Mr. Smithers 
came forward again for the Congressional nomination. It 
was well known that there was some opposition to him in 
his party. This opposition grew entirely out of his action 
in Congress concerning the fugitive slave laws. A bill was 
introduced repealing these laws, and Mr. Smithers was the 
only Republican in the House who voted against it. He 
held that slavery was organic, and could only be abolished 
by constitutional amendment, and therefore considered the 
measure an idle farce, and devoid of all practical utility. 



MEMOIR OF NATHANIEL B. SMITHERS. 29 

His action caused considerable comment, and was used 
against his renomination, but the attempt failed. He was 
renominated, and the action of the convention was hailed 
with delight by his friends both at home and abroad. His 
friends in Congress were eager for his return. To show 
the feeling which existed there I clip the following from a 
letter written to him October 15, 1864, by Justin S. Morrill, 
now United States Senator from Vermont, who was then a 
member of the House of Representatives : 

"I see with pleasure that you are unanimously renominated, and now you 
must not be defeated. Our friend Davis, I fear, cannot be returned from his 
district. There are too many there that hate him, and his eccentric cutting 
loose from ' Old Abe' will mar his prospects. Still, he is a noble soul, and I 
hope his star cannot be blotted out, even in Baltimore. Our friends should 
bestir themselves to make sure of your election. We need all the genius, 
wisdom, and statesmanship we can group together to steer safely through the 
present stormy seas." 

But he was not elected. The combined influence of the 
opposing party, negro equality, and the draft defeated him 
at the polls. I asked him, upon one occasion, if he did not 
feel his defeat very keenly at that time, when his services 
seemed so useful to the nation, and his own particular star 
was in the ascendency. His reply was, " I did not. I 
assure you that, as I assumed these responsibilities only in 
obedience to a sense of duty, I laid them down, however so 
pleasant the associations, without regret." 

And, indeed, this is not to be wondered at, when we come 
to inquire into it. Grave personal considerations demanded 
his attention. He felt that his only place now was in the 
bosom of his family, — near the children that so needed his 



30 MEMOIR OF NATHANIEL B. SMITHERS. 

care, and beside the invalid wife who was fast drifting out 
into the silent shadows that curtain the portals of eternity. 
So far did these things influence him that when, after his 
failure of re-election, Hon. Thomas A. Jenkins, of Rhode 
Island, invited him to a conference, and stated that he was 
deputed by Republicans, whose recommendations would 
have been potential, to inquire what position at home or 
abroad would gratify him, his reply was, " While my feel- 
ings are touched by this mark of regard, I must decline 
your proffer, for reasons of a personal and domestic nature." 

This session ended Mr. Smithers's Congressional career. 
He retired from Congress, having made a marked impres- 
sion upon that body, and having secured a national reputa- 
tion as a patriotic and wise legislator. 

In 1868 he was a delegate to the national convention 
that nominated General Grant for the Presidency, and here 
happened a little incident which illustrated the gathering 
after many days of bread cast upon the waters. John D. 
Deprees was Secretary of the National Committee, but as 
he was deeply interested in the nomination of his friend 
Colfax, Mr. Smithers volunteered to take charge of his 
department, in addition to his own State duties. Among 
the members of the committee was B. R. Cowan, of Ohio, 
and that State being in proximity to Chicago, his supply of 
tickets to the convention had become exhausted. In the 
mean time, one whom he felt under the highest obligation 
to serve, had come on with entire confidence in Cowan's 
capacity to do anything. Cowan hunted in vain for a pass, 
and in his emergency applied to Mr. Smithers, stating that 
his reputation was at stake, and imploring Mr. Smithers to 



MEMOIR OF NATHANIEL B. SMITHERS. 3 1 

assist him, if only with a standing ticket. As Delaware 
had comparatively few visitors, Mr. Smithers was not only 
able to accommodate him, so far as the admission of his 
friend was concerned, but secured him one of the best seats 
in the building. Several years afterwards Mr. Smithers was 
in Washington, engaged in watching the interests of Colonel 
McComb, in the Credit Mobilier investigation, and Cowan 
was the Assistant Secretary of the Interior. It became ex- 
ceedingly important to fix the date of a certain certificate. 
Inquiries had been made by both sides, and always with the 
same result, — the date was not satisfactory. Mr. Smithers 
was confident that there was a prior one, but how to get it 
was the trouble. He called upon Cowan, and was assured 
that a thorough search should be instituted ; that every 
paper in relation to the matter should be overhauled. This 
was done, and the next day the desired date was certified 
to him. He always thought that the courtesy shown to 
Cowan at Chicago had its influence in inducing a more ex- 
haustive examination than would otherwise have been made 
by the clerk. 

Mr. Smithers's first experience in Washington was some- 
what out of the common order. It will be remembered 
that at the meeting of the Thirty-eighth Congress a number 
of motions were made before organization to add representa- 
tives to the roll of the House. It came about in this way: 
By law, the clerk of the House is required to make up the 
roll from the certificates received by him, and this roll, so 
made, is prima facie evidence of those entitled to organize. 
Emerson Etheridge had been clerk of the House in the 
preceding Congress. He was a thorough Unionist, and of 



32 MEMOIR OF NATHANIEL B. SMITHERS. 

unquestioned reputation for integrity, but it became whis- 
pered about in certain quarters that he desired to be con- 
tinued, and to this end he was wiUing to construct the roll 
in such a manner as to give the Democratic party the 
ascendency in the matter of Speaker, in return for which he 
was to secure the clerkship. Independently of the injustice 
of attributing such treachery to an honorable man, the 
futility of the proceeding should have been sufficient proof 
of its falsity. But in the excitement of those days men did 
not reason with calmness. The suggestion was made, and 
even among members was to some extent accepted. Of 
course, speculation was rife, and anxious consultations were 
held. Naturally, these rumors caused Mr. Smithers no little 
anxiety with regard to his own credentials. He therefore 
determined to call upon Mr. Etheridge in relation to them. 
Being a comparative stranger, he was accompanied by a 
friend to the lodgings of Mr. Etheridge, whom he found in 
an animated and not very amicable conversation with two 
members-elect from Connecticut. He presented to him his 
credentials, and inquired of him if they were correct. Mr, 
Etheridge looked over the paper, and replied that it was 
entirely satisfactory, and added that it was one of the few 
that strictly conformed to the law. Relieved by this assur- 
ance, Mr. Smithers inquired whether he would give him the 
names that he felt compelled to exclude. Etheridge unhesi- 
tatingly wrote down the list of those whose certificates were 
informal, and handed it to him, and upon asking whether 
he might be permitted to retain it, Etheridge replied that he 
most certainly could; that he had nothing to conceal; that 
he was only doing his duty as he understood it, and that 



MEMOIR OF NATHANIEL B. SMITHERS. 33 

any one could have had the same information by asking 
for it. 

With that paper Mr. Smithers went to the room of Colfax, 
where a large number of Republicans were assembled in 
somewhat excited colloquy over the situation. He showed 
them the list, some of them doubted its genuineness, but 
Colfax and others assured them that it was in the hand- 
writing of Etheridge, and the bubble burst. The wonder 
was how he had managed to obtain the evidence. There 
was no mystery. He had simply assumed Mr. Etheridge 
to be honest, and treated him as a gentleman. After care- 
ful counting, it was found that there was still a sufficient 
Republican majority, and a number of gentlemen were 
designated who, the next day, should consecutively move, 
before organization, to add to the roll the omitted repre- 
sentative. This was done, and the House organized. 

In 1880, Mr. Smithers was again chairman of the State 
delegation to the National Republican Convention, and 
cast the vote of Delaware for James G. Blaine. His admi- 
ration for Blaine's ability was unbounded, and, furthermore, 
they were warm personal friends, — a friendship which was 
formed in Congress and which lasted through life. In 
1889, Mr. Smithers was prominent among the men men- 
tioned for the United States senatorship, when ex-Senator 
Higgins was elected. His last public service was in the 
office in which he began his public career. He was ap- 
pointed Secretary of State in January, 1895, by the late 
Governor Marvil, and retired from that office in the follow- 
ing April, upon the death of the governor. 



34 MEMOIR OF NATHANIEL B. SMITHERS. 

HOME LIFE. 

For fifteen years after the death of his wife Mr, Smithers 
remained a widower. He continued to reside in the State 
Street house with his family, which consisted of himself, 
his two children, and the housekeeper. His interest seemed 
to be centred solely in his children ; and his only ambition 
to do well whatever came to him unsought and in the line 
of duty. There were no longings for a repetition of public 
life ; no aspirations to break away from the quiet environ- 
ment in which he was reposing. His home, his books, and 
his friends seemed to fill up his life so completely as to 
leave no room for outside ambitions or aspirations. So 
perfectly suited to his taste was his mode of life at this 
time that when his friend, the late Chief Justice Gilpin, 
implored him to remove to Wilmington, assuring him of a 
large and lucrative practice in his profession, he declined 
by saying that he preferred to remain where he was. 

Let us not imagine that this condition was brought 
about by the approach of old age, Mr. Smithers was still 
in the prime of life, — strong, masterly, magnetic. He was 
the same Nathaniel B, Smithers who, for twenty years, had 
thrilled the people with his eloquence, and whom they had 
learned to look up to and to honor. Neither let it be 
thought that he had ceased to take any interest in public 
affairs. He was fully alive to all the questions of the day. 
With high ideals, clear insight, and sound judgment, he 
grappled with the social, political, and economic problems 
of his time, and solved them for himself. While his solu- 
tion of them did not always coincide with the views of 



MEMOIR OF NATHANIEL B. SMITHS RS. 35 

Others, yet when men could not understand why Nathaniel 
B. Smithers did as he did, they were always sure that he 
had weighed the matter well, and was acting upon con- 
scientious judgment. In his word the people had the 
utmost confidence. They flocked to hear him on the 
hustings, and received his utterances in perfect faith. It 
was for this reason that the opposite party so feared his 
power, and invariably followed him around in a campaign 
for the purpose of building up that which he had torn 
down. 

It often required both moral and physical courage, in no 
small degree, for him to advocate what he believed to be 
right, and to denounce what he considered to be wrong 
Of his moral courage I have spoken. Of his physical 
courage, the following incident will serve as an illustration : 
The campaign of i860 was a hotly contested one. The 
Republican party in Delaware was regarded with the 
utmost contempt by its enemies, and its members subjected 
to the grossest criticism. During this campaign Mr. 
Smithers was exceedingly active in the Republican cause. 
Open-air meetings were held nightly, and he stumped the 
State from one end to the other. At one of these meetings 
a disturbance occurred. Indeed, it had been whispered 
about early in the evening, and it came to the ears of 
Mr. Smithers, that the enemies of the Republicans had 
determined to break up the meeting. When the hour for 
the meeting arrived the street was thronged with people. 
The meeting was organized, and Mr, Smithers was intro- 
duced to speak. As he stepped to the front of the plat- 
form he was greeted with a shower of stones and brickbats. 



36 MEMOIR OF NATHANIEL B. SMITHERS. 

Some of those upon the platform, becoming alarmed, were 
in favor of retiring at once ; others, incensed at the outrage, 
advocated a free fight. But Mr. Smithers, raising his hand 
with a commanding gesture, and in that clear, penetrating 
voice of his, said, " Gentlemen, you may proceed with your 
missiles; you cannot intimidate me. I came here to talk 
about Republicanism, and, unless you slay me, I shall do 
so." His words and manner had a magical effect, order 
was restored at once, and he delivered his speech un- 
molested. 

In 1875 there came to him the keenest sorrow, perhaps, 
of his life, — the death of Sadie, his only daughter. She 
had been in failing health for some time, and he was much 
distressed about her, yet he was hardly prepared for her 
death, and the blow came upon him with terrible force. 
His Hfe seemed bound up in this lovely daughter. Apart 
from the fatherly tenderness he felt for her, he adored her 
for her loftiness of character and lustre of mind. She, in 
turn, lavished upon him her admiration and affection. 
She placed him on a height far above all other mortals ; 
amid a halo of goodness and grandeur, and her devotion, 
her idolatry never faltered. No two lives were ever in 
more perfect accord than these two. No two people ever 
understood one another better than did this father and 
daughter. Time was slow, indeed, in blunting the sharp 
edge of his grief occasioned by her death. 

In 1882, Mr. Smithers was again married. His second 
wife was Mrs. Mary T. Smithers, nee Mary Townsend, 
daughter of William Townsend, Esq., of Frederica. This 
marriage was an exceptionally happy one, and brought into 



MEMOIR OF NATHANIEL B. SMITHERS. 37 

Mr. Smithers' somewhat gloomy and despondent life that 
light and cheer which it so needed. The old home-life was 
re-established, and a fresh interest in his surroundings 
awakened. There was a peacefulness, a tranquillity, about 
his life at this time that was indeed enviable. But it was 
destined to be disturbed by the same fell destroyer that had 
more than once before brought him sorrow. This time it was 
the death of his only son, Nathaniel B. Smithers, Jr., a very 
bright and promising young man of thirty years, a member 
of the bar of Kent County, and who left to survive him a 
wife and one child. The death of this son left Mr. Smithers 
childless, but in quiet submission to the will of Providence 
he bowed his head humbly and said, " It is all right." 

He now, more seriously than ever, turned his thoughts 
towards religious matters. All his life he had been a stu- 
dent of theology, and was familiar with all the great religions 
of the world. He studied them as if determined to find out 
for himself the truth. Books of this description filled a 
large space in his library, while upon his office-table, within 
easy reach, lay the little Greek Bible, which had been his 
companion for years. A Methodist by birth and inclination, 
his name for many years had been upon the assessment list 
of that church, and he had been one of its heaviest contrib- 
utors. He had attended its public service with regularity, 
and conformed strictly to its discipline, but had never for- 
mally entered into membership. One Sabbath morning, at 
the close of the sermon, he rose quietly from his seat in the 
congregation, w^alked down the aisle to the chancel-rail of 
the church, and, standing reverently at the altar of God, he, 
full of years and honors, testified to the truth of the gospel. 



38 MEMOIR OF NATHANIEL B. SMI THE RS. 

and in childlike simplicity offered his name to the church 
in testimony of his faith. " May I be permitted to speak ?" 
he asked, and, lifting his eyes amid the deep solemnity of 
the scene, he said, " I am convinced that the way of my sal- 
vation is through Jesus Christ, the Saviour of the world." 

During the last year of Mr. Smithers's life he became very 
infirm physically. So great was the inroad of disease upon 
him that he became a tottering old man, yet his mind 
remained ever firm and vigorous. But the end was fast 
approaching. It came almost with the coming of the new 
year. He died on Thursday, the i6th day of January, 
1896, at about two o'clock in the morning, in the seventy- 
eighth year of his age. He had been seriously ill only a 
few days. On the Saturday preceding his death he had 
been transacting some business in the Orphans' Court, but, 
not feeling as well as usual, went home and to bed. On 
Sunday and Monday he felt better, but remained in bed. 
On Tuesday he grew worse, and during the day fell into a 
comatose state, from which he never recovered. The imme- 
diate cause of his death was Bright's disease, but the end 
came very quietly, and he passed away without any visible 
signs of suffering. 

When such a man withdraws from among the living, and 
is seen no more among men, he does not die. To sublime 
characters there is no death. It is but the decay of a flower, 
the fading of a summer cloud, the fleeting of a sunbeam, so 
beautiful in their transition that they can never be forgotten. 
What Nathaniel B. Smithers accomplished no man can 
measure. His worth no man can fully estimate. The im- 
press which he left upon the community, the State, the 



MEMOIR OF NATHANIEL B. SMI THE US. 39 

nation, of which he was a part, will deepen with the flight 
of years, and for generations to come his name will be the 
synonym of all that is manly, wise, and good. 

At a special meeting of the Directors of the First National 
Bank of Dover, of which he was president, among the reso- 
lutions adopted was the following : 

" That the directors of said bank, in common with the many friends of the 
deceased, recognize the fact that in the death of Mr. Smithers the State has 
lost one of its foremost and ablest citizens, and this community one of its best 
and most useful members ; that by reason of his splendid talents, remarkable 
intellectual force, and sterling integrity, he was a credit to his State and an 
honor to the community in which he lived so long. He was a man of strong 
convictions and fearless in their expression, but of kindly nature, and exceed- 
ingly generous and kind to those in need." 

The bar of the State mourned his loss deeply, and gave 
expression to their feelings in fitting speeches and resolu- 
tions. 

At a special meeting of the Board of Education of the 
Dover public schools, of which he was president, resolu- 
tions were adopted, from which I copy the following sen- 
tence : 

" All classes and conditions of men will miss his aid and assistance in the 
various perplexities of life." 

No greater truth than that was ever told ; no grander 
eulogy ever written ; no nobler epitaph could be graven on 
his tomb. 

And now my grateful task is done. I lay this humble 
but heartfelt tribute at the foot of the mound where sleeps 
this scholar, statesman, patriot, as a slight token of my 
admiration and esteem. 



\ 



